Bengaluru: Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office at Raj Bhavan to three new ministers this evening after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah set the ball rolling for the cabinet expansion.

Legislative Council members H M Revanna, R B Thimmapur and MLA Geetha Mahadevaprasad were inducted in the Siddaramaiah ministry to fill three vacant posts.

The posts of the Home Minister, Excise Minister and the Cooperation and Sugar Minister were lying vacant.

The current KPCC President Dr. G Parameshwara quit his post as the Home Minister after the party High Command decided that he would concentrate on election campaigning.

H Y Meti, who earlier held the Excise portfolio, resigned after a sex tape showing him in a compromising position surfaced in the media in December 2016. The post has been lying vacant since.

In December 2016, the then Cooperation and Sugar Minister Mahadevaprasad passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest and this ministerial berth has also been lying vacant.

Surprisingly, Thimmapur, who made headlines for falsifying addresses in order to vote for the mayoral polls, has been chosen as a candidate for a ministerial position.

Both Thimmapur and H M Revanna held ministerial portfolios in the Congress government led by S M Krishna.

Thimmapur was the minister for planning, institutional finance and statistics whereas H M Revanna had served as the silk minister.

CM held discussions with the party high command and AICC General Secretary In-charge of Karnataka, K C Venugopal before shortlisting the 3 candidates.